1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to distributed computing systems and methods, and more specifically to reclaiming unused resources in a networked application environment.
2. Description of Related Art
A broad variety of computing applications have been made available to users over computer networks. Frequently, a networked application may be provided using multiple interacting computing nodes within a distributed computing architecture. For example, a web site may be provided using a web server (running on one node within the distributed computing system) configured to receive requests from users for web pages. The requests can be passed to an application server (running on another node within the distributed computing system), which in turn processes the requests and generate responses passed back to the web server, and ultimately to the users.
Another example of a networked application includes a content distribution system used to provide access to media titles over a network. Typically, a content distribution system may include various servers such as access servers and content servers. Clients may connect to the servers using a content player, such as a gaming console, computing system, computing tablet, mobile telephone, or network-aware DVD player. The content server stores files (or “streams”) available for download from the content server to the content player. Each stream may provide a digital version of various forms of video or other content, such as a movie, a television program, a sporting event, user generated content, or a staged or live event captured by recorded video. Users access the service by connecting to a web server, where a list of content is available. Once a request for a particular title is received, the title may be streamed to the client system over a connection to an available content server.
One problem with distributed computing systems is that networked applications running on systems such as these often accumulate multiple resources, such as storage volumes and licenses for software applications, some of which may have fallen into disuse. Unused resources could be redeployed to other networked applications where the resources would be utilized more efficiently. In addition, users may pay for reserving or maintaining resources within the distributed computing architecture. Where resources have fallen into disuse, users may be paying for resources that are underutilized. Further, security vulnerabilities may arise when resources fall into disuse. Unused resources may not receive software updates, including updates to resolve security problems, and thus present a security risk to the distributed computing system. While unused resources may be reclaimed manually, some unused resources may be inadvertently missed due to human error, while other unused resources may be difficult to discover using manual processes.
As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed is a more automated way to discover and reclaim resources that have fallen into disuse.